Court orders anti-graft probe into suspected AI-generated books in Tamil Nadu libraries
Novelist Perumal Murugan raised the alarm over books with false information and doubtful authorship at a new Coimbatore library.
The Madras High Court has ordered Tamil Nadu's anti-corruption agency to investigate allegations that public libraries in the southern Indian state bought hundreds of books suspected of being generated using artificial intelligence, the BBC reported. The court also directed that bank accounts linked to a publisher accused of supplying the books be frozen.
NDTV reported that the order was passed on November 11 by a Division Bench of Justice G R Swaminathan and Justice M D Sumathi at the court's Madurai Bench. According to NDTV, Justice Swaminathan's portion of the order included praise for the Prime Minister's "Mann Ki Baat". NDTV's full report was not available.
The dispute began at Periyar Arivulagam, a library in Coimbatore built for about 3bn rupees (US$34m) and inaugurated on 16 October by Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay. Novelist Perumal Murugan, author of Pyre and One Part Woman, visited last month. In an online magazine, he alleged that nearly 1,800 books in the Tamil section had come from a little-known publisher, Agal Vilakku Pathippagam, and that many carried unfamiliar author names, unusually high prices and questionable ISBNs.
One title, Naladiyar Vaazhvin Vazhikatti, was reportedly priced at 1,445 rupees for 300 pages. It describes Naladiyar as a poet and philosopher, though Naladiyar is a classical Tamil work of 400 four-line verses on ethics. Another book reportedly credits the ancient poem Madurai Kanchi to the wrong author. The BBC said it remains unclear whether AI was used to produce any of the disputed books.
A book at a Madurai library, published by Phoenix Publishing House, names economist Jean Drèze as its author. Drèze told The Hindu he had not written it. BBC Tamil visited a Chennai address listed for both publishers and found no signs for either business. A woman there confirmed Agal Vilakku operated from the premises, and its proprietor, Mohan, declined to comment because the matter was before the courts.
School Education Minister A Rajmohan described the case as potentially "India's first AI scam" and blamed the previous Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government for ordering the books. He said the state would try to recover public money if wrongdoing was found. The DMK has rejected the allegations as politically motivated and has itself called for an investigation.
More than 160 writers, researchers, artists and publishers have signed a joint statement seeking an independent inquiry, release of procurement records and an audit of library collections statewide. They questioned how the books passed expert committees, price negotiations and several levels of review.
The government has ordered an internal audit of public library collections. Rajmohan said 523 books had been removed from Chennai's Connemara Public Library after preliminary checks, and disputed titles had also been taken off the shelves at Periyar Arivulagam. Anti-corruption officials are examining procurement records and inspecting other libraries, he said.
Sources: BBC News, New Indian mega library rocked by scandal over 'AI-generated books'; NDTV, In Book Scam Order, Madras High Court Judge's Praise For PM's 'Mann Ki Baat'.
